US Orders Some Diplomats Out of Venezuela; Embassy to Remain Open

Essential and non-essentials are laid out in the emergency action plan. Since most visa services are suspended at this point then consular staff, except for those doing American Citizen Services, are nonessential. In a draw down, dependents all leave and private Americans are warned to get out and assisted with passports and flight help as needed.

Other nonessential might included public affairs and cultural officers. Economics officers are often on the nonessential list too. Non-State nonessential might included Agriculture and Commerce. I think Caracas is pretty bare-boned staffed right now anyway. Venezuela hasn’t been issuing diplomatic visas for our folks to get in.

Unfortunately, it’s clear you must not be a free market conservative if you make those statements.

Sure, age discrimination exists. Sure, it’s a travesty that people “gave their lives to a profession/trade/vocation,” but change in society and the marketplace is a constant.

You are thinking like a Luddite when you complain about robots and mechanization. Technological change like this has happened for centuries and continually puts some people out of work and employs new people.

Yes it’s sad (for the laid-off workers), and older people do take a hit - but what alternative are are suggesting?

Shall we go out and destroy the robots? Shall we use heavy-handed government to make laws to prevent formerly free enterprises in the private sector from using robots and AI? So much for liberty, huh?

Or shall we just grumble & complain about how “unfair” it is (like you are doing) and develop a long-standing grudge that is counter-productive? That puts you clearly in the camp of the left wingers, my friend!

And whether you like it or not, the Chinese and other countries WILL be using robots and AI, so abandoning mechanization/robots/AI “just because we need to continue doing things the old way and keeping workers employed” — will eventually cause those American businesses to go out of business anyway due to lower foreign prices. Would you want that? Clearly you haven’t thought this through very deeply.

I don’t have the perfect solution, but your options are certainly not appealing. I prefer freedom and liberty.

For historical perspective, you might want to read up on Luddites when you get a chance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite

Tell me all about your “solutions” when you are my age, and put out of two careers because of “technology.” Men need to work - or they die before their time. I run my own Architectural Design business; however, here in rural Nebraska, that is a tough row to hoe, and it does not bring a constant cash flow - but it is the only option I have.

And don’t give me that “leftist” rubbish - nothing could be further from the truth. I’m giving you the facts, and you want to throw ideological purity in my face. All that ideological purity is not getting me re-employed, nor is it supplying investment opportunities to the rural parts of the country, where the only thing going is corn, wheat and cows - and I’m too damn old and physically handicapped to take up farming or ranching.

I don’t need lectures on the damn “horse n buggy” saga - I know my history. Likewise I can see too well where all this robotic advancement is going. The horse and buggy were replaced with the automobile - and it required men to build them. The manual labor of picking cotton was replaced by the Cotton Gin - but it required men to build those machines. So, what do you suggest? We all build freaking robots? What will you propose when they develop robots to build the robots? Guess I should just go stock shelves at Walmart, eh? Oh, wait - they’ll eventually have robots doing those menial tasks too! What good is a revival in manufacturing, if their no longer exist jobs for the men who used to make things work in this country?

The problem here is not a matter of left or right - it’s that I can be realistic about the future that will be ours when the machines are made to run everything - and you cannot, or will not see it from any perspective, or from that of all the “older” generation, who have been put out too soon “put out to pasture” by this technological nightmare that you worship, and which has no room for humanity. Must be a very comfortable fit, with those rose-colored, ideologically pure glasses you wear.

What will you do when even our government is populated with AI robots? No president, no human leaders ... No “flawed” human element whatsoever - but only “The Machine.” As I previously stated - ‘Brave New World’ or ‘The Matrix,’ if you prefer ... And my guess is that you do in fact “prefer”such a future. I’ll hazard a guess that you’re a computer programmer; or perhaps you might be the reincarnation of Spock. I’m certain that we humans are simply too illogical for your liking - and, in your world, we are expendable. Well, I got news for you, buddy - I’m not one to “go gently into the night.”

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